We're celebrating the 20th anniversary of one of the great classic baseball card sets, 1988 Topps. We're going through all 792 cards one by one, posting bits about what makes the card awesome and cool stats about the player or team featured on the card. We're also posting the 1988 Topps Traded set!

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

#483 Rod Booker

Why this card is awesome: Because I can't for the life of me figure out which player or coach that is in the background. My best guess is Jose DeLeon but that doesn't seem right.

Cool stat: Here's the power of B-R's Play Index. I remember being at a Phillies game as a kid where Rod Booker scored the winning run in extra innings on a wild pitch. By going to his event finder, I was able to find all his plate appearances in extra innings at home. There are just 9 of those. Quite obviously, it's #6 on that list, and the box score is here. I also remember this game for a different reason. My dad gave me the option of going to the Tuesday night game (this one) or the Wednesday night game. I picked Tuesday, but shoulda picked Wednesday since Terry Mulholland threw a no-hitter the next night.

3 comments:

I remember that game very well. I watched it on tv. What I remember most is Giants pitcher Francisco Oliveras getting out of a bases loaded jam in extra innings and then doing a pirouette as he entered the dugout.

Two notes: One, isn't that kind of a big factoid to throw out on the bottom of the card, unexplained? How is he related to Jackie?Two, that player in the background? Well, you had the jersey right. But, you guessed it, that's Manny Trillo wearing his uniform. Why? Well, it started during a wild night at Jose's bachelor party...